Little Brother
by Nanfoodle13
Summary: On the day Gojyo arrives,things are not as one expected.Jien centric.


Title: Little Brother

Author: Nanfoodle

Pairings: None, brother-fluff (angst?)

Warnings: None that I can think of

Notes: This has been gnawing at my brain since I wrote 'Bar Talks'. Finally decided to type it out. Happy reading! Ah, comments are adored.

Little Brother

In a small town, in a small, one-roomed school house, sat maybe about twenty or so children, all scribbling away on pieces of paper that said in big bold letters at the top 'test'. In the second seat of the second row sat a small boy whom most just called Jien, instead of his full name of Sha Jien. The boy wrote one final thing, jumped out of his seat and walked to the head of the room where his teacher sat, laid the paper down and turned back to reseat himself. Only, before he could make his way back to the seat, a clawed hand grabbed him by the shirt and when he looked, he realized his teacher was beckoning him around the desk. Following teacher's orders, he stepped to the side and around the corner of the desk.

"Yes?" Jien questioned. The teacher bent her finger again in a sign to come just a bit closer. Jien obliged and leaned slightly towards the teacher. She placed her hand on his shoulder and began to whisper in his ear.

"While you were taking your test, I saw your father walk through the marketplace." At hearing this Jien eyes threatened to overcome his face. The shock was soon replaced with a look of pure joy.

"Can I…?"

"Yes, go on." The teacher laughed to herself because before she had even finished the small sentence, Jien had bolted out the door.

Jien ran. Ran and ran and ran. It was fastest he'd ever gone in his entire life. He sprinted across town as fast as his small legs would take him. Once he finally reached his street and his house was in view, it seemed like he had an entire second wind and he kept going all the way to his front porch, jumped over every step and through the door. When he was finally shaded from the sun by his house walls he called out, panting only a little "Papa! Papa I'm home! I made it, where are you?" the enormous smile that had been plastered across his face the entire time way slowly beginning to drop. "Papa?" he called out once more and this time, when he was quiet, he heard a faint 'slosh' noise that sounded like water hitting something. He softly walked towards the kitchen.

As he continued, the sloshing noise got just a little bit louder, until he was finally even with the opening of the kitchen door and the person he found was not his father, but his mother. She was standing with her back to him, facing the sink, with her hands resting on the sink counter. "Mama?" he called out softly. That when his attention was pulled back to the sloshing noise. He looked at the sink and saw a plop of water rise then fall back into the sink. Then he saw…was that a foot? Curiously he walked to the side of the sink, looking up at his mother the whole time. When he was beside her, he stood on his tip toes and peered into the sink to find not dirty dishes but a small withering baby. Alarmed he cried, "Mama that's a baby! You can't put a baby in the sink!" while he said this he grabbed a washcloth and the baby, wrapping the latter with the former. Immediately after being taken out of the water, the baby began to squeal and cry out.

"Shhh. It's ok now, I got ya." Jien said in a soothing voice while sat cross-legged in the floor. He began a rocking motion while still shh-ing the baby. After a time, the baby finally stopped and just laid there in his arms. Jien looked at it (him as he had noticed earlier) and wondered whose baby this could be and why he had been in the sink. Then he remembered why he had come home so early and the promise his father had made to him.

'If you take good care of your mother while I'm gone, when I get back you can have that little brother you were wanting. Okay?'

Jien had remembered himself shaking his head violently up and down and swore across his heart that 'Mama' would be okay. She had been quite upset that Papa was gone but he always went to her and cheered her up so that she wouldn't cry. She had to understand that Papa would be back soon and this time, with a baby!

Now that he realized that his papa had kept his promise he was thrilled at the thought that the baby in his arms was his very own little brother to take care of.

But then a horrible thought crossed his mind. The baby wasn't old enough yet that it had features of anyone specifically but, from what he could tell, this baby looked nothing like him. It had red eyes from what he had seen of them when that baby looked at him, and the peach fuzz at the crown of his head was also red instead of brown. A tad bit scared that he had his hopes up too high, he looked to his mother and said "Mama…is this the little brother that Papa promised me?" and at that his mother finally moved but with a heaving sobbed that rang through the house. She sobbed again and this time she slowly began to slide down to the floor. At hearing the sad noise the baby began it's wailing again.

Startled at this chain of events, Jien once again began his calming motion, rocking back and forth in the floor. Then he looked to his mother and tried to calm her down. "Mama, shh it's okay. Everything alright now isn't it?" that only made her sob louder and the baby wail more. Caught between calming his mother and the baby in his arms, Jien began to panic slightly. He couldn't stop his mother's tears nor could he stop the baby's. He was rendered useless and helpless and once he gave more thought to his situation, Jien silently allowed his own tears to mingle with theirs.


End file.
